The foreign ministers of Russia, Germany, France, and Ukraine spent three hours behind closed doors discussing the Ukraine crisis on Monday, and may meet again next week if progress is reached over the next few days in resolving remaining disagreements.

After the meeting in
Berlin on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the
political process to end the Ukraine crisis will only succeed if
Kiev treats the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk Republics as
equal partners.

"It was stressed that the political process can be successful
only when you start a direct dialogue, in this case between the
representatives of the Ukrainian government and the proclaimed
DPR and LPR, and they should feel fully involved in the political
process as equal partners," Lavrov said.

Following the meeting, the four ministers called on the contact
group of Ukraine, Russia, and the Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to try to make progress on
implementing the Ukraine peace deal agreed in September,
including creating the "relevant conditions for an effective
ceasefire,” the joint statement reads.

German Foreign Minister
Frank-Walter Steinmeier said that while the session was
a“very open
exchange,”it did not
produce enough results for a meeting of the leaders of Russia,
Germany, Ukraine, and France this week in Kazakhstan.

Steinmeier said that representatives from foreign ministries
would continue work to find common ground. The foreign ministers
of the Normandy Quartet might also hold another meeting next week
if “progress is achieved in the coming days.”

The so-called Normandy Quartet was established in June when
Russian, French, German, and Ukrainian leaders met in northern
France's Normandy to discuss and find a political solution to the
Ukrainian crisis.